Conference Room Courting
by Serena Thorn
Summary: Up until these last few weeks in Genoa City with Adam Newman, Elle had been convinced that she would leave the doe eyes and doodled hearts in board meetings to the likes of Claire.


Title: Conference Room Courting  
>Summary: Up until these last few weeks in Genoa City with Adam Newman, Elle had been convinced that she would leave the doe eyes and doodled hearts in board meetings to the likes of Claire.<br>Rating: PG-13  
>CharactersPairings: Adam/Elle, Victor, Gloria, mentions Angela, Claire, past Adam/Sharon  
>Spoilers: None for Heroes, July 2011 of Y&amp;R<br>Word Count: 3904  
>Disclaimer: The Young and the Restless nor Heroes are owned by me, but by CBS and Tim Kring. I'm simply borrowing these characters for non-profit entertainment.<br>A/N: Post-AU S3 of Heroes, AU of the July 2011 Y&R storyline. 

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><p>"Ow!" Elle cried out, a spark shooting from her hand on reflex and hitting the offending coffee pot that had just burned her. "Oh, damn it," she muttered when she saw the charred side of the pot. Third time this week, people were definitely going to start talking if she couldn't get a grip on herself.<p>

She knew she was distracted and she knew why. It was all Angela's fault.

This time Angela had sent her to Genoa City to keep an eye on a supposed close friend of hers. Her instructions? Simple. Get into Victor Newman's company, Newman Enterprises, and get close to one of the man's sons.

At the time Angela had insisted that either of Victor's sons would be easy prey as they had both been grieving the loss of a woman who had since returned from the supposed dead. And had chosen another during her time away.

Both men had been more furious than Elle had thought they would be since most of those who had come from the dead in her world usually didn't come home to such hostility. True, she had, but that was different. That was typical for how Angela would greet her.

But it seemed one of the men already had his hands full with an ex, which would leave her with the one some had referred to as downright evil and who was hell bent on revenge against everyone he felt had had betrayed him. Again. With somewhat of a permasmirk with that realization, Elle felt like a kid in a candy store. If she could get him on her side then maybe the town really could be theirs to burn.

As for Angela's plan, sure, it was simple. Except for the fact this assignment hadn't lasted for just the week it was supposed to have, forcing her to spend more time with all of them than she had hoped. The problem for Elle was that while Victor's older son was off with his ex every chance he seemed to have and made it easy for her to remember this was all for an assignment, Elle wasn't so fortunate with the younger Newman son.

Adam Newman... The one who was just as screwed up as she was, at least if you believed the stories people in Genoa City told about him. But he was also two years her senior and he was tall and he was lean and his hair was short and dark and his eyes were blue and it hadn't been long before she'd realized there was little she wouldn't do to see that amazing smile of his. He also just happened to have daddy issues to an extreme that rivaled her own. Getting close to him had been easy thanks to some of their shared issues, including some mutual issues with Victor. Detaching from him at the end of the day, however... That was a whole other story.

Granted, under normal circumstances that would have been just fine. It wasn't exactly a secret how she viewed the men she liked as toys and would waste no time in playing with them and subsequently breaking them as such. But she couldn't be that version of herself this time. Angela had made that much clear since as long as she was there she was supposed to be viewed as a professional, aspiring business woman. At least in Victor's eyes.

"Hey, Elle?" Adam called as he knocked on the doorframe of the break room, trying to get her attention when he caught her muttering to herself.

She jumped at the call of her name, knowing it was the very object of her obsessive affection saying it. Turning to face him, she asked, "Yeah?"

"You forget about the meeting in five? Victor's expecting all of the commoners there."

_Meeting? Oh yeah, that place where I'm expected to pay more attention than usual to things other than how good you smell? Sure._ "Was just on my way," she half-lied with one of her least convincing smiles of all time.

Looking her over, catching her shaking ever so slightly as she held up her steel thermos, he asked, "You okay?"

_Only terrified that I'm right about you being a special and that you can hear my every thought... about you. No big._ "Uh, yeah, just burned myself. I think there was a short in the wiring," she told him, glancing back to the blackened side of the coffee pot and burnt cord.

"Again? Wow. Victor might have to dig into that piggy bank of his and bring in an actual barista if that keeps up."

"I could always turn it around and we could watch as he gets the shock of his life after the meeting's over," Elle grinned. This was better. This was natural. Their continued bonding over mutual hatred, it never got old. Especially not when she could tell he liked that idea as a small smile began to tug at the corners of his mouth.

Adam sighed after his brief musing, finally telling her, "He'd find a way to blame us, and then I would have to call Vance and we'd never be in time for happy hour at Gloworm. I think we just might have to save that for another day, I'm afraid."

Elle stuck her lower lip out and gave him her best big, blue puppy eyes. He wasn't the only one who wanted to see Victor burn. He had done nothing but insult her since she had come to town. The fact he kept attempting to warn her away from Adam and essentially punish her for not heeding his advice only intensified her want to help Adam in his quest for revenge in every way she could.

"Come on," he told her with a nod of his head. "If you're interested in an escort to the conference room, I'm your man. Unless you're afraid of what grunt work he'll have you doing this time for walking in with me."

_And to think I've killed to hear less than an invitation like that,_ Elle thought with a soft sigh as she took those few steps up to Adam's side. Right where she had decided she belonged. And where she wanted to stay. Well, unless on top of him and or under him didn't count as being different options... In which case she would be happy with the occasional change-ups.

Up until these last few weeks Elle had been convinced that she would leave the doe eyes and doodled hearts and even the childish scribbles of _Mrs. Elle Newman_ to the likes of Claire. Or even Peter. She hadn't wanted to like Adam, certainly not to this degree. She had tried to remind herself of his supposed crimes when she had first noticed her attraction towards him, but in the end they just ended up furthering her belief that they were made for each other.

She liked that he wasn't some innocent, misunderstood Kansas farm boy who was the previously estranged son of a billionaire. Well, okay, he had been those things. But since coming to Genoa City he had become an accused murderer and labeled sociopath who had successfully used his Harvard Business expertise to manipulate the stock market and buy himself enough Newman shares to be put on the board of directors in just a matter of literal minutes a few weeks before. All of that just made Elle want to see the view of the boardroom from Adam's lap all the more.

Now, just as Adam had been doing for the last few weeks, he took the seat right beside her at the conference room table as the others filed in. He had told Elle at first it was because he knew what it was like to be the newbie, that he knew too what it was like to be there when everyone else was looking at him like he didn't belong. Now he seemed to just be doing it out of habit. The others had noticed too, at least since she seemed to be the only person in town he was even somewhat nice to anymore.

And it was driving her crazy in nearly every way. Though truthfully Elle couldn't be sure him sitting anywhere else would have made it easier. One way or another she would still be staring at him, her fantasies taking over, absentmindedly practicing her wishful _Elle Bishop Newman_ signature in the folders she had been given.

For Elle even just being in a room with him now was yet another test to not profess her love for him. The fact they had even practically come up with their own sort of code for these meetings did nothing to lessen her interest or her dreams of pulling him to her in the break room and having one of the walls make up for their height difference.

Victor, as he mumbled on about whatever new plans and possible layoffs he was talking about, was oblivious to both his older daughter hanging on his every word and the son he had already publicly disowned more than once ever so casually making their own notes to one another. Newman Enterprises going mostly paperless had actually helped them quite a bit when it came to this. Anyone could have seen them reaching over to the other's notepads, but their Blackberries had been quite the help.

Angela had coached Elle on what to say, what she would be doing and even how to get Victor to appreciate her supposed expertise. But she liked Adam's form of coaching better, she liked that at least one person there wasn't willing to be one of Victor's many lapdogs. Particularly since one way to get Victor on her side or let him know she was on his would be to forfeit her friendship with Adam, the only friendship she had managed to forge in Genoa City.

_"Notice how he's ignoring B&D who sided with me last time?"_ Elle read as Victor went on about Victoria's latest idea. Then she glanced to the two men, Bob Lemon and Davis Holloway, that she remembered even shaking hands with Adam after the last meeting instead of ignoring him as Victor had all but instructed them to do.

_"At least we knew about the meeting being moved up today,"_ Adam read as her reply. She was right. Even at the first meeting he had gotten there early intentionally, knowing his father would pull any trick he could to try to exclude him. Sure enough it had paid off for Adam.

It was worth it to Elle all the more when she saw the look on Victor's face when she brought up a venture offer that Adam had heard of and had quite nicely asked her to bring up in this meeting. It was some cross between disbelief and repulsion with a twist of confusion.

Sure enough Bob and Davis were just as interested to hear about Adam's idea as they had been the last time. Even if this time it was being described by Elle. It all kind of gave her a thrill. Not being his puppet as some would accuse her of; though, really, she would choose the idea of having Adam's hand up her back than Angela's any day. But it also thrilled her to not have to buckle under Angela's orders or fear Victor. Something about having Adam by her in all of this was making her feel more like herself. And even kind of safe. Or at least less likely to end up using her own power on those who had been pissing her off. Like Victor. And Adam's sister Victoria. And Adam's brother Nick. And Nick's ex, or current, or whatever Phyllis was to him this week... Really, it seemed anyone who had it out for Adam was suddenly on her "Must Not Electrocute" list.

_"This is why I love working with you,"_ Elle was soon reading as her next text from Adam as Bob and Davis agreed that Adam's idea sounded more appealing than Victor's. Glancing over, she saw that he was even smiling right at her. And fraking hell if she didn't feel her heart leap at that. That was one text that was getting saved, no question. Maybe she would even print it out and frame it when she got back to her room at the Genoa City Athletic Club. A compliment on a job well done with the word 'love' used by her favorite person in town who she was just maybe a little bit in love with? Kind of a no-brainer.

When Victor finally declared that the meeting was over, Adam and Elle were the last ones out of their seats, both feeling more than a little smug even as they knew they were about to get another stern talking to. It didn't matter. Things had gone in their favor and they had won another round.

Feeling in a celebratory mood, Adam asked her, "How would you like to compare a few more notes over a drink at Gloworm?"

"You mean go publicly rub it in Victor's face that our plan won out today?"

He grinned. "Is that a yes?"

"Always... So long as you're buying," she answered with her own grin.

"Of course," he stated as he reached down to take her hand. "It couldn't be a proper date otherwise."

Her eyes widened, but Adam didn't see it. Not when they were heading back down the hall towards the elevator that second later. That was the first time she had heard him use the word date in that sense with her. She couldn't tell if he was being his usual sarcastic self or not. She guessed so, but her hope was getting the better of her.

She was still wondering even as they were shown to a table at Gloworm several minutes later. Would she want to be on a real date with Adam? Of course. Did she ever expect to be? Not in a million years. It wasn't a secret how much he had loved Sharon, nor was it a secret how betrayed he had felt by her. And then when she had come along so soon afterwards, well, Elle might have been more surprised than anyone that Adam hadn't rejected her on sight but had instead given her a chance. True their trust had only begun to be built when she had admitted to him some of why she despised Angela and wished she could exact some of her own revenge. Of course that was when Adam had come up with his plan for them to team up and they had been the closest thing to friends that either of them had had in years ever since.

Sure it had only been about a month since then, but in that month they had still proven their worth to one another. They hadn't betrayed each other, they hadn't stepped out of line and really they only seemed to be getting closer. Or at least Elle hoped that was the case. As for how Adam saw it, she was too terrified to ask for fear they would lose what glimmer of a relationship they had built.

"How about we get some champagne? No need to be shy about what we got done today, is there?" Adam asked her.

"I'm game if you are," she answered, her anxiousness immediately returning. Champagne with Adam? Great. Just what she didn't need. More of those damn fantasies of a wedding popping up in her mind. How Adam would look in a tux, the fairytale-esque white dress she had dreamed of back when she had been naive enough to believe she would one day get married, how Angela and Victor likely wouldn't be there and would thus truly make their day even more magical... Of course there was also the chance she would end up getting herself drunk and confess everything she had desperately been trying to hold back from telling him. Either way, there was no way this could end well.

"Are you okay?" Adam finally asked her, realizing she seemed a million miles away.

"Yeah," she lied. "I just was thinking about Angela's reaction when she finds out what I'm really doing here. Sabotaging the wrong Newman and all."

He nodded. He understood completely. "We can handle Angela. If I can handle Victor, then -"

"Angela's _special,"_ she cut in. "I hope it won't come to it, and if it does I don't know how I'd make it a surprise, but if it comes to it, I know what I can do to make sure neither of us has to worry about her or her connection to Victor."

"Okay then. How about for now we just concentrate on tonight? We can celebrate how ever you want. Dinner to go with our champagne, going over some more notes for the next meeting, making sure we're ready for whatever might get thrown at us next. Just, name it."

"Anything?" she asked, wondering if she might have the guts to finally admit that what she wanted most was in fact not a what but a who and sitting directly across from her.

"Someone order the finest champagne in the house?" Gloria asked as she personally brought it to Adam and Elle's table.

"That we did," Adam smiled. Gloria considering him almost like a surrogate son sure hadn't gotten old yet. It really was amazing how close some people with Victor as a common enemy could be. Again, that brought his attention back to Elle.

"Well whatever you two are celebrating, I hope there will be more celebrations to come." Bringing her voice down, Gloria added, "And if they include wiping the floor with Victor, then so much the better for us all."

Adam almost laughed even as Gloria headed back off to the bar. "So, what were you about to say you wanted?" he asked Elle.

"I can't remember," she lied again. She hated this was becoming a habit. Lying to Adam. But at least it wasn't about anything one would consider serious. It was a stupid, workplace crush. Nothing he really needed to know about. Particularly when he was on yet another quest for revenge against his father. She was more than happy to help with that, sure. But at the same time she knew she would have liked for him to see her as more than a piece of this puzzle.

"A toast," Adam told her as he raised his now nearly full glass and waited for Elle to do the same.

"To what? Bringing down the evil empire?"

"To the Newman and Petrelli protégés that were not supposed to be, but know and do more than their predecessors put together," he stated.

"I'll drink to that," Elle smiled and clinked her glass to his before taking that long sip.

After his own sip, Adam set his glass back down and told her, "I have a confession to make. "I, uh, I didn't ask you here just to celebrate today's meeting. There's something else I wanted to talk to you about. Something I've been noticing lately."

Elle's next swallow was almost audible. _Oh. Crap. Here it comes. Where's a vortex when you need one? Or Hiro Nakamura with his nifty time freezing ability?_ she thought to herself. She was terrified of what he would say next, of what he had noticed. Sure he had asked her to Gloworm, but even talking to him still seemed to be a battle between her brain and her mouth. Her brain screaming at her to tell him that she had been wanting him since the second she had seen him and her mouth always on the verge of going on strike. And then there was that flippy thing her stomach liked to do when he looked at her. Meanwhile now her secret might very well be out and she would likely have to come up with some way to talk her way out of it.

"Just promise me you'll hear me out," he told her, beginning to get a little nervous himself. After everything that had happened with Sharon he was actually kind of afraid of this conversation himself, but he knew he had to get it out. That they both did if they had any hope of continuing to work together.

"I promise," she nodded even as her heart did that so not funny stopping thing again. And amazingly, as she thought about it, she hadn't broken one promise to him yet. Okay, aside from full disclosure, but she decided he was better off not knowing what half of her thoughts of him involved. That just would have made things weird.

"I've wanted to ask you out since you started working at Newman. I just haven't been able to tell if you were interested in more than our business venture here. So I figured I'd finally go for it today in case you end up being one of the ones Victor has to lay off or transfer. I wasn't sure how to bring it up though, so I decided on this, that way if you ended up wanting to pretend this never happened, we could."

Her assignment wasn't over yet so she knew she wasn't going anywhere until Angela said so, no matter how much Victor might want to fire her or transfer her given her alliance with Adam, but she couldn't tell Adam that so instead she just replayed his words in her mind. He had wanted to ask her out for as long as she had wanted him to ask her out. And he had thought she hadn't been interested?

Catching her silence, Adam added, "Was I right? Should I have not brought it up?" He really hoped she wasn't about to get up and run out of the club. Too many worst case scenarios had been filling his mind ever since he had tried figuring out when he should do this. Or even if he should.

She shook her head, deciding once again she really was an idiot. "I started to think you'd never ask. Not that I blamed you, but -"

"What?" he asked, the word coming out in a sigh as he finally released the breath he hadn't realized he had been holding.

Elle almost laughed at their apparent mutual embarrassment. "I've sort of been hoping for this since I got here. I just know about what happened... before... and I didn't want to bring any of that up again for you."

That time Adam laughed. He couldn't believe it. "I guess then we've got something else to celebrate tonight after all."

"Definitely," Elle replied with a nod as he refilled their champagne glasses.

As much as Elle wanted to kiss him then and there, even knowing how easy it would be if she leaned across the table to him, she knew better. He had already made her wait this long, she could make him wait another few hours. And if they just happened to end up in her bed at the GCAC not long after that then so be it. She had finally told him what she had been desperate to tell him for weeks and she knew now that she wouldn't waste any future chances she got to tell him just how much she wanted him.

The End


End file.
